St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-09-17
O'GORMAN MAHON.
THE PICTURESQUE FIGURE IN
IRISH POLITICS..

Some Incidents Concerning New Member
of Parliament-His Periodical Appear
ances in Public Life-A Scene in the
Ennis Cou1t-house-His Dueling Record
The most picturesque figure which the
century has produced in Irish politics
has just appeared in the House of Com
mons.
1t is all but sixty years since the great
scene was enacted by which Daniel
O'Connell broke the bonds that had ex-
cluded the Roman Catholics from Par
lament. The place was the courthouse
in Ennis; the occasion was the election
of a member for Clare. The town was
filled with 10000 people, not counting
the military. The courthouse was
packed, and suddenly all eyes were fast
ened upon daring young man, who, I'M
comfortable in the gallery, or anxious
to display his colors, and thereby pro-
mote the chances of his candidate, had
coolly flung himself over the railing OF
the gallery and sat almost suspended on
a narrow ledge, his legs dangling in mid
air. His costume was as remarkable as
his position. Glossy trousers of Irish
tabinet proclaimed at once fine pair
of legs and fondness for home manu-
features. He had thrown off his waist
coat, and his blue and white striped
shirt was open at the neck, "in which"
wrote a circumstantial chronicler of the
day, 1.-The strength of Hercules
and the symmetry of Antinous were
combined" A handsome and mobile
face, exhibiting courage and compla-
cency, was crowned by profusion OF
jet black curls Enthusiastically festooned
across his brow; while his droll but firm
mouth was partly hidden in bushy black
whiskers. Across his breast was wide
green sash, bearing the legend, unmen-
toned by Froissart or Burke, 1.-The Order
of Liberators" He kept his dangerous
post not without difficulty, but with per-
feet composure; and until the high
sheriff and he had finished their CONVEX
sation, business could not proceed.
"Who, sir, are you?" inquired that
functionary, the first man of the place
and the occasion. He was an 1rishman,
but had been in India and had acquired
curious enunciation, blending the ca
dences of Wesley, according to the story,
with the clipping accent of the sons OF
Confucius. The man on the perch, MINI
licking his manner, called down amid
roars of laughter, "My name is O'Gorman
Mahon." The high sheriff, determined
that no insignia should be worn in his
presence unauthorized by the Queen,
called up in rejoinder, Il tell that gentle
man to take off that badge" Holding to
his perch with one arm, the elevated pa
triot used the other for gesture, and laying
it upon his breast retorted: This gen.
tleman tells that gentleman" pointing to
the sheriff, that if that gentleman pre-
sumes to touch this gentleman" again
spreading his palm across the badge,
"this gentleman will defend himself
against that gentleman. or any other
gentleman, while he has the arm of
gentleman to protect him." Aristocracy,
clergy, county squires, and rustic peas
ants, all commingled in dense mass of
excited partisans, cheered with one i'm.
pulse until the sheriff, dumfounded by
the illogical but menacing reply, gave up
the task of bringing the scarf off the
breast of O'Gorman Mahon or the weare1
of it off his dizzy precipice.
The incident, trivial, if ludicrous, had
effect. 1t was the first collision between
O'ConnelIs friends and the Govern
ment;" and after the victory of the
House itself, by which the modification
of the oaths permitted the Liberator to
take his seat, the first man for whom he
provided constituency was O'Gorman
Mahon, and the seat was the one which
that eccentric lieutenant had done so
much before the contest in the court
house, as we'll as after it, to procure for
the great agitator. The then young man
was not long out of Trinity College,
and was studying for the Irish bar. He
remained in the House but a short time
and disappeared from politics for
fifteen years, when he returned
to Parliament exactly forty years ago..
remaining five years, and disappearing
again for twenty years. During these
intervals, although unheard of in West
minister, he was one of the best known
men socially in all Ireland. Although
called to the bar he never practiced. AL
though he could carry any constituency
open to Nationalist in Ireland, at any
time of his life, he stubbornly refused to
be candidate. He preferred to main
tain his political convictions in more
militant way. He has been great duel
list, and has been principal on the
field of honor" thirteen times, for each
of which encounter he sent the chal-
lenge, never having received one.
Notwithstanding his fidelity to the
principle of individual force, he rather
opposed the idea of force as a
means of winning back the legislative
of his country. In his
home rule conference address he dis
tinctly avowed himself an advocate of
moral suasion and that alone. He doubt
less knew too we'll the futility and mad
ness of Ireland striving unaided against
the military strength of Great Britain.
He was one of the first to feel and ex-
press confidence in Parnell, whom he
finally proposed as the leader of the
Home Rule party, and then he accepted
once more the seat for Glare, to which
he had been originally elected just fifty
wears previous. He was striking fig
ure in the Parnell phalanx in its young
and obstreperous days. He rarely spoke,